Susan Blackmore Strange Creatures Analysis
In today’s society, intelligence is often mistaken as the most dominant trait a person can have however, what makes us unique among all species is the power of imitation.Some people may feel as if intelligence and imitation are two entirely separate terms but if one closely examines these words they are more alike then one would think. Imitation is a form of intelligence. Susan Blackmore in her essay, “Strange Creatures,” argues that the theory of memetics controlling the world.Blackmores disputes the common idea that every idea people form is not entirely theirs, from viewing the world with our power of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing we have a understanding of physical reality only with this concept can one think of a mental one.
Imitation is how we learn from each other we use this skill, a skill only humans have without even thinking about it; it comes so naturally that we forget we even do it. In Adam Gopnik's essay, “Bumping into Mr. Ravioli” he is pessimistic about an imaginary friend that her daughter Olivia has invented. The odd thing about this is that this imaginary friend is always to busy to play with her. This worries Gopnik so he decides to do research on it observing Olivia actions and the things she says. Gopnik thought of this playmate, Charli Ravioli has a harmful idea but throughout his essay his opinion changes supporting and even spreading Mr. Ravioli himself. Olivia is a inventor and creates Mr. Ravioli to fulfill her needs and help her grow into a more social and successful person in the city of New York. Oliva see’s the invention of busyness that society has created to be overwhelming, she has created an imaginary friend to learn the skills needed to handle and be successful in her environment, and to develop and grow.People intervene to ensure the memes they like are passed on. Gopnik realizes that Blackmore is right at the end of the story and learns that humans control the passing of memes, Charlie Ravioli is a meme Gopnik chose to pass on.Imagination is dependent on imitation, without the ability to mirror actions and ideas we cannot form new ones.As a result, without seeing the world we cannot imagine our fiction.
Imitation is how we learn from each other we use this skill, a skill only humans have without even thinking about it; it comes so naturally that we forget we even do it. In Adam Gopnik's essay, “Bumping into Mr. Ravioli” he is pessimistic about an imaginary friend that her daughter Olivia has invented. The odd thing about this is that this imaginary friend is always to busy to play with her. This worries Gopnik so he decides to do research on it observing Olivia actions and the things she says. Gopnik thought of this playmate, Charli Ravioli has a harmful idea but throughout his essay his opinion changes supporting and even spreading Mr. Ravioli himself. Olivia is a inventor and creates Mr. Ravioli to fulfill her needs and help her grow into a more social and successful person in the city of New York. Oliva see’s the invention of busyness that society has created to be overwhelming, she has created an imaginary friend to learn the skills needed to handle and be successful in her environment, and to develop and grow.People intervene to ensure the memes they like are passed on. Gopnik realizes that Blackmore is right at the end of the story and learns that humans control the passing of memes, Charlie Ravioli is a meme Gopnik chose to pass on.Imagination is dependent on imitation, without the ability to mirror actions and ideas we cannot form new ones.As a result, without seeing the world we cannot imagine our fiction.